Editing Arthur Eddington (section)

==Early years==
Eddington was born 28 December 1882 in [[Kendal]], [[Westmorland]] (now [[Cumbria]]), England, the son of [[Quaker]] parents, Arthur Henry Eddington, headmaster of the Quaker School, and Sarah Ann Shout.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|year=2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=090219884X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=1 April 2016|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

His father taught at a Quaker training college in [[Lancashire]] before moving to Kendal to become headmaster of Stramongate School. He died in the [[typhoid]] epidemic which swept England in 1884. His mother was left to bring up her two children with relatively little income. The family moved to [[Weston-super-Mare]] where at first Stanley (as his mother and sister always called Eddington) was educated at home before spending three years at a preparatory school. The family lived in a house called Varzin, at 42 Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare. A commemorative plaque on the building explains Eddington's contributions to science.

In 1893 Eddington entered Brynmelyn School. He proved to be a most capable scholar, particularly in mathematics and English literature. His performance earned him a scholarship to Owens College, Manchester (what was later to become the [[Victoria University of Manchester|University of Manchester]]), in 1898, which he was able to attend, having turned 16 that year. He spent the first year in a general course, but he turned to [[physics]] for the next three years. Eddington was greatly influenced by his physics and mathematics teachers, [[Arthur Schuster]] and [[Horace Lamb]]. At Manchester, Eddington lived at Dalton Hall, where he came under the lasting influence of the Quaker mathematician J. W. Graham. His progress was rapid, winning him several scholarships, and he graduated with a BSc in physics with First Class Honours in 1902.

Based on his performance at Owens College, he was awarded a scholarship to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], in 1902. His tutor at Cambridge was [[Robert Alfred Herman]] and in 1904 Eddington became the first ever second-year student to be placed as [[Senior Wrangler (University of Cambridge)|Senior Wrangler]]. After receiving his M.A. in 1905, he began research on [[thermionic emission]] in the [[Cavendish Laboratory]]. This did not go well, and meanwhile he spent time teaching mathematics to first year engineering students. This hiatus was brief. Through a recommendation by [[E. T. Whittaker]], his senior colleague at Trinity College, he secured a position at the [[Royal Observatory, Greenwich]], where he was to embark on his career in [[astronomy]], a career whose seeds had been sown even as a young child when he would often "try to count the stars".<ref name=Douglas1956 />
[[File:Arthur Eddington.jpg|thumb|Plaque at 42 Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare]]
[[File:Frederick Stratton, John William Nicholson, K. Schwarzschild, Frank Watson Dyson ride in automobile.jpg|alt=Eddington are on a horse; possibly during the Fifth Conference of the International Union for Co-operation in Solar Research, held in Bonn, Germany|thumb|Eddington, right, on a toy donkey; possibly during the Fifth Conference of the International Union for Co-operation in Solar Research, held in [[Bonn|Bonn, Germany]], 1913]]